Bolts skate past Wild

Published: Friday, October 18, 2013 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, October 18, 2013 at 12:06 a.m.

TAMPA

The captain played. And that was enough of an inspiration for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Martin St. Louis may not have been much of a factor, but Steven Stamkos sure was. Stamkos netted the go-ahead goal with just over five minutes left in regulation as the Lightning pulled out a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild Thursday night at the Times Forum.

St. Louis was a game-time decision to play. He blocked a Drew Doughty shot on the inside of his right foot Tuesday night against Los Angeles.

The Lightning held a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes as Ben Bishop made several glorious saves in the middle of the second period. It was only one goal because Wild goalie Josh Harding made some great saves of his own.

"For a four-minte stretch, he was there when we needed him to be," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

Minnesota (3-3-2) drew even with 8:55 to go. Nino Niederreiter made a nice cross-ice pass to Mikko Koivu, who beat Bishop high to the glove side with a perfect shot.

Few thought that would be Minnesota's last shot on goal. Tampa Bay outshot the Wild 13-2 in the final period and 30-26 for the game, including the game's final seven shots.

"We took over the third period," Cooper said. "I like our chances with lead. We need to win those 5-4 and 2-1 games."

With the teams skating four a side, Stamkos won a race to the puck after a bank pass from Matt Carle.

"I knew (Stamkos) wanted it with speed," Carle said. "So I put it where he could skate to it."

Said Cooper, "Some people underestimate his speed."

All alone behind the Wild defense, Stamkos snapped it over Harding's blocker -- he catches with his right hand -- to break the tie.

"That was a smart play by Matty," Stamkos said of the winner. "We've seen Marty do that, too."

The Lightning (5-2) got good pressure late in the period to stunt an opportunity for the Wild.

Sami Salo scored into an empty net with 17.2 seconds left to seal it. It was the first goal by a Lightning defenseman this season.

Tampa Bay got the opening goal with the man advantage late in the first period. Tyler Johnson got a handle on a Valterri Filppula feed in the left circle and scored past a diving Harding with 5:58 left in the frame.

The goaltending exhibition began in the second. Bishop made seven great saves in two separate sequences.

"They could have had three or four goals, and he's been playing well," Carle said of his goalie. "He's even helped us by playing the puck. Let's hope he can take this confidence and run with it."

First was a four-stop series with 10:26 left, with Marco Scandella (twice), Jared Spurgeon and Mikko Koivu denied a tying goal. Not even a minute later, Bishop stopped a Dany Heatley shot, then Mikael Granlund missed two close-range chances.

"He's given us a chance to win every time he's played," St. Louis said. "We can't try and win 5-4 every game. I'm glad we won a game like this."

Harding, who plays despite dealing with multiple sclerosis, had his moments in the final five minutes of the second. First he denied Teddy Purcell in the low slot.

Then, Wild defenseman Matthew Dumba fumbled the puck at the right point and Lightning winger Alex Killorn ignited a breakaway. As he came to the net, Killorn chose to pass to Stamkos, who was unable to lift the puck over Harding's left pad with 3:33 to go.

Stamkos didn't miss when it mattered.

"Hey, 5-2 is better than 4-3," St. Louis said.

NOTES

With St. Louis' status in doubt, Tampa Bay recalled F Brett Connolly from Syracuse as a precaution on Wednesday. St. Louis and Connolly played, so the scratched Lightning forward was Pierre-Cedric Labrie. With the top six defensemen continuing to play well as a unit, Keith Aulie and Mark Barberio remained healthy scratches.

Lightning defensemen have 14 asissts. Two came on Stamkos' winner. Stamkos took the team's goal-scoring lead with his fifth. Filppula, Purcell and St. Louis have four apiece.

Bishop's 5-0 start is the best of his career. He's yet to allow a first-period goal. In his five starts, he has a 1.56 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage, stopping 132 of 140 shots he's faced.

Meanwhile, Minnesota is planning to send G Darcy Kuemper to its AHL affiliate in Iowa.

Koivu's goal was the 120th of his career, all with Minnesota, moving him to second on the Wild's career goal list. That broke a tie with Andrew Brunette; the franchise leader is Marian Gaborik with 219.

As part of the leaguewide Hockey Fight Cancer Night, all skaters had lavender tape on their sticks. A moment of silence was held before the game for former Lightning assistant coach Wayne Fleming and former Lightning and Red Wings forward Shawn Burr.

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